Friday, February 26, 2010

I recently read See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson, which has a hockey player as the hero. I enjoyed it so much I went looking for other hockey-themed books. I stumbled across Body Check and grabbed it. I had read one other book by Ms. Martin, With A Twist (review to come soon), and couldn't decide if she was an author I would read again or not. After reading this book I says YES!!!

Janna MacNeil is a publicist newly hired for the New York Blades hockey team. She's a bit nervous as she's never done PR for a sports team and doesn't know much about hockey. The new owners of the team want her to "spruce up" the reputation of the rowdy team, starting with their captain, Ty Gallagher. Ty is a great player, focused soley on the game. He doesn't care about corporate and all the PR stuff that goes with the sport. Things are not off to a great start; after Jane's first meeting with Ty, she promptly goes into the ladies room and throws up!

Ty is not immune to Jane's sparkle and personality. After a faux-pas involving a charity dinner and her sister, things start to heat up between Jane and Ty, but they've got to keep it on the DL for professional reasons. Of course things don't go smoothly and there is plenty of drama to keep things moving. There are several side stories, Jane's roommate Theressa has some problems, Jane has family issues, Ty's inability to focus on anything but winning the Stanlely Cup....it all blends into a great story!

This story kept my attention, I didn't have to suspend disbelief, and none of the characters were TSTL. I'm already moving on to the next book in this series, Fair Play, which is Theressa's story. I give Body Check 4 1/2 out of 5 stars!